Shattering the Void
by Quake Shatterfist
Summary: A One Piece Story set in an very dark time where the World Government holds control and has successfully shut down the Age of Pirates. This tale follows a person who will be known as the Void Smith and the pirate crew he has to join. As they try to re-spark and revive the Great Age of Pirates. The SYOC is closed for now
1. Prologue - A Life, Full of Troubles

Greetings All, I'm back with other project, this concept has been sitting in the forge for a while now. Then the brain ticked over and hey lets get this one piece story rolling.  
Well sit, back, relax and enjoy. Quake

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 **Prologue: A Life, Full Of Troubles**

"What is a pirate?….. What does it mean to be one?"

There was a time, where people would freely travel the globe and be happy to be labelled as a pirate. The Great Age of Pirates which was started by a single man, Gol D Rogers the Pirate King. Upon his death, his final words caused every pirate to set sail into search of Rogers' treasure, the 'One Piece'.

Records state that this age started to reshape the world to point where the World Government was forced to act. Some believe the events that followed from the Great Age of Pirates were on the same scale of what occurred during a hole in history known as the Void Century. From whatever scraps of information that have survived about this age, all had something in common. A single name…. The Strawhats.

From what was written about these Strawhat Pirates, every piece of text would describe them as an unstoppable force of change. Their captain, one Monkey D Luffy managed to become the next Pirate King and created a legend that rivaled the previous king. Some history books would label this as some of the darkest times in history.

Both the World Government & Marines were on the verge of collapsing until a single event occurred that shook the entire world to its core. After a few years, the Pirate King Luffy was murdered, how he died is still unclear. But some sources claim that the Marines managed to sneak an operative into the Strawhats ranks. However all sources state that Monkey D Luffy was killed by someone he personally called a friend.

The World Government took advantage of this confusion and shut down the age of pirates. They swept through the grand line eradicating any pirate and anyone involved with pirates. Thus creating a massive cage around the world. Any surviving pirates were forced to scatter across the globe to escape the fate of their comrades as well as to keep the Will of Pirate King alive.

From that point onwards, the World Government kept a strict eye on any devil fruit or any family with a genetic ability that would shake up world. That was around 300 years ago, these days being labelled a pirate is a death sentence. And anyone who breaks the rules will be labelled a pirate and suffer severe consequences. That's how tight the World Government's grip on the world is.

Devil Fruits use to be a sort after commodity however after the pirate age ended, specialised facilities started appearing. They had two distinct objectives one, to train hunters in the ways of fighting and capturing people with devil fruit abilities and two, experimenting on those captured people in order to recreate those devil fruit abilities for the World Government to use in their mechanical soldiers known as Pacifista.

With these specialised facilities and another major military bases. The Marines who serve as the front line for the World Government have created a large domain in the world which covers the majority of the grand line and surrounding islands in all 4 of the seas.

Constantly expanding their domain, more and more nations are being pressured to join the World Government and receive their so called protection. They get pushed beyond their breaking point sure constant lack of supply from their blockades or overwhelming presence. Any nation who decides to push back without having a bargaining chip will disappear.

There are some nations who have managed to evade the crushing grip of the World Government. Either the World Government has deemed the island uninhabitable or the island is governed by a trade prince who actually own the rights to major trade routes in the sector.

Such places like Amazon Lily and East Goldshire where due to the nature of the island's themselves, the Marines are unable to gain control of the place.

East Goldshire is where this story starts and where my life unexpectedly takes a turn down an unknown path. I have lived here for the majority of my life under the care of a family friend, a blacksmith named Francis Nicopoliski. However there was time where I lived with my parents, we would move from island to island. I can't even remember the place where I was born.

We moved around a lot because my father, he was a legendary hero of the Marines, One Matthew James Murdoch. Because of this I have seen the world's true colours many times, the worst I saw was at a place called Anchoridge located in the Anchor Archipelagos.

That was one of the dark stains in the Marines history, a major resistance developed in the populous to fight the controlling government and the Marines. The order was given to cull the resistance and any supporters they might have. Within one night a population of 5 million was cut down to a fifth of its original size.

The remaining survivors were branded with a six digit number on their left forearm. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. The Marine soldiers didn't know that I was the son of the hero or it could been the fact that they just didn't care.

Soon after that the Anchor Archipelagos were locked down, my dad managed to use his power within the military to get us out of there. Before I could tell, that event was only the start of my troubles. While travelling away from the Anchor Archipelagos, my eyesight started becoming sharper and I started noticing the smallest details in the world.

My father worried this would happen, he was born with a genetic ability called Acute Micro Visual Awareness, it has many names in different cultures, the most common one being Emperor's Sight. Basically it means the brain is naturally overclocked and is able to see those smallest details like microexpressions and act upon them.

My father was able to use this to his advantage during combat, by closely watching the opponent and seeing the smallest changes in their body to be determine where they would strike from. The World Government has deemed this ability too dangerous to be out of the World Government's Control. Therefore to protect myself no one must be able to learn my last name.

During the time traveling with my family, there was a certain island that could never recall the name of. All I remember was playing in a massive junkyard to the point where i couldn't find my way out. I remember being so hungry I even thought about trying to capture the rats within the junkyard to survive.

Until I stumbled across a strange box which looked like a small treasure chest. Inside it was the strangest looking fruit I have had ever seen. It was purple in colour with weird archway patterns, but at the time I was so hungry I didn't care what it looked like, to me it was food.

It was the most disgusting thing I have ever tasted. After that doors started opening up for me. I remember my parents freaking out about what happened. That's where my father decided it would be safer for me to live with a family friend in a neutral island. Hidden away from the eyes of the world government.

My life started to calm down once I started living in East Goldshire, the people there were very nice and friendly. As long as I kept my left forearm covered, I wouldn't be asked any questions about that branding. Life was great, living with my guardian Francis at his house which happened to be the place he worked. The city's blacksmith "Pyrite's Hammer", the most renowned smith in all of East Goldshire.

Living there never made life dull, every day was different and being able to help Francis with his work was unbelievable. I even started to think all my troubles have finally ended, due to the Trade Princes rule the World Government and their Marines could never reach me. To think my troubles were finally over…. Such naive thinking….

After living with Francis for a couple of years, I started to notice a small phase etched into the rafters. Even tho it looked just cracks in the rafters themselves, but the more I looked, the more it started to look like an ancient language.

I even managed to find an old device that had similar marking on it in the attic of Francis' house. It was a complete wreck but after while I managed to restore it to a semi working order. Through a lot of trial and error I have a verge idea of the thing I was repairing. It was a translator of some sorts, the majority of the internal mechanisms were fine, there was a of bent push rods that needed replacing.

I managed to get a rough translation of that small phase, "To obtain true freedom, Live with no regrets". Such simple words had a pretty strong effect on me, I can clearly remember the horrified face Francis had when I told him about my discovery. Another trouble came knocking I managed to stumble on a massive secret that the Trade Prince didn't even know about his own land.

East Goldshire had an hidden forge, built by the people living in that Void Century. If such a secret got out, the entire island would be destroyed. I learnt that Francis was actually a descendant of a Strawhat Pirate named Nico Robin and his family have been safeguarding this secret when Nico Robin herself came to this Island after the tragedy that befell her captain.

That small phase was like a form of initiation to find someone worthy to safeguard the secret of the Void Forge. After that Francis started to teach me the arts of the being a blacksmith. From Francis' teachings I learned the basic form of Armament Haki. After the learning that secret, the years seemed to pass rather quickly.

Before I knew, it was the year of my 18th birthday and it was year that everything started to spiral out of control. I managed to construct an sword using the Void Forge, by combining rare materials that Francis had collected over his life, which he gave me on my 17th birthday.

That weapon that I slaved over, was the final nail in the coffin, no weaponsmith in the world could successfully make a weapon that I did. I was told to keep the blade itself hidden at all times and make sure that I kept that either on me or in the vault at home. If the World Government found out that I made such a weapon, no one would be able to hide me from their wrath.

Forging that weapon was just the start, the point where my life truly crashed and burned was when I met a strange girl. She was clearly older than me, if I had to guess at her age I would say around Francis's age, so early 40's if not younger. But what made her so strange was that the fact, in this day in age she was one of those rare few who didn't fear the World Government.

She was a pirate, in fact she was the captain of her own pirate crew…. Captain Sophia 'Twin Fang' Campbell of the Twin Fang Pirates.


	2. SYOC Information

Sup, Welcome, Hello & Greetings,

It's Quake here and I hope you all enjoyed the prologue for this new project. On that note I finally wrote something that can be considered an prologue so... Huzzah!  
As I mentioned in that little spiel before the prologue, I have a wanted to write an One Piece Story and I have this idea for a while now. When I actually got around to writing this tale after a bit my brain decided to change stories on mine. Such is life i guess

Shattering the Void is set 300 years into the future of the current One Piece timeline, the world itself is in a very dark place, pirates are few in numbers and the World Government controls the grand line and surrounding islands in each quadrant. On top of that they are expanding their territory and increasing their military might with these specialized facilities design to hold and experiment on Devil Fruit users in attempts to recreate their power.

Now the reason I have the time frame like this is to reset the Devil Fruits and provide some creative freedom when writing the story. You can consider the technology of the world to be slightly more advance but nothing to crazy like flying cars, robot butlers etc... To be honest this story will be fun to write and speaking of which I give the general gist for this tale. It follows an person who will be labelled as the Void Smith and he adventures as a member of the Twin Fang Pirates as they attempt to re spark and revive the Great Age of Pirates and freely the world from the World Governments tyranny.

The character sheet template is shown below, now I am looking for 10 characters to join the Twin Fang Pirates, as for marines go ham. However there will only active 3 admirals like always and absolutely no Yonko or Shichibukai because they don't exist due to World Government wiping out all pirates in the grand line.

Finally the last thing, a future idea of mine is to create what I call the Tale Forge, which is a place to help everyone develop their story ideas.

So enjoy this tale of mine and I will working on my other projects as well

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 **SYOC Character Sheet Template**

 _ **SYOC Rules:**_

 _1\. No Mary Sues or Gary Stus  
2\. __Follow the choices in the brackets then remove them afterwards.  
_ _3\. If the character has a devil fruit, don't always go for the most popular/strongest one.  
_ _4\. Try and Focus on a few things, Don't make the character a MASTER at EVERYTHING  
_ _ **5\. MOST IMPORTANTLY BE CREATIVE  
**_ _6\. Feel free to contact me during this adventure to add or change any details of the character  
_ _ **7\. Submit the Character via PM titled 'Shattering the Void SYOC - {CHARACTER'S NAME}'  
**_ 8\. Have "Live with no regrets" in the Submission to show me that you read the rules.

 **PERSONAL INFORMATION**

Name: _(First Name, Surname, Optional Middle Name)_

Aliases: _(Any Personal Nicknames, Etc...)_

Epithet: _(Do they name people known them by, i.e. Monkey D Luffy epithet is Strawhat)_

Age: _(Age Of The Character)_

Gender: _(Male or Female?)_

Race/Tribe: _(What race/tribe are they? Human/giant/fishman/merfolk/etc…)_

Place of Origin: _(Where Do They Originate From? North/South/East/West Blue, Sky Island. Grand line, etc... )_

 **PHYSICAL APPEARANCE**

Height: _(Height of character)_

Weight: _(Weight of character)_

Eye Colour: _(Characters eye colour)_

Hair Colour: _(Characters hair colour)_

Hairstyle: _(How Does The Character Wear Their Hair?)_

Build: _(Body shape of your character)_

Extra Body Features: _(Notable features on your character e.g scar/freckles)_

Apparel: (What the Character likes to wear)

Accessories: _(Any Favourite Accessories The Character Likes To Wear?)_

 **PERSONALITY PROFILE**

Personality: _(What Is The Character Like?, How Do They Act?)_

Likes: _(What Do They Like?)_

Dislikes: _(What Do They Hate?)_

Hobbies: _(Do They Having Hobbies To Pass The Time?)_

Strengths: _(What Are They Good At?)_

Weaknesses: _(What Are Their Weaknesses?)_

Fears: _(Are They Afraid Of Anything?)_

Romance: _(Do you want your character to be paired with another?, if so what type of person would they fall for?)_

Ambitions: _(What Are Their Dreams?)_

 **PERSONAL HISTORY**

Occupation: _(Pirate, Marine, Devil Fruit Hunter,etc… if a part of the Marines include a rank)_

Devil Fruit: _(Do they have a Devil Fruit? If yes what one?)_

Fighting Style: _(How do they fight?)_

Weapons: _(What weapons do they use?)_

Haki: _(do they use any form of haki? If yes what kind and how experienced are they with it)_

History of Character: _(Background Information Of Your Character, How Become The Way They Are?, Any Key Moments Of Character Growth In Their Past?, Etc…)_


	3. Chapter 1 - The Calm Before A Storm

Greetings All, First off thanks everyone for the awesome responses on the prologue to this story, its was amazing to read them.  
So here is a new chapter i hope you enjoy and also I've this project idea running which i will talk about at the bottom. As always sit back, relax and most importantly enjoy!.  
Cheers Quake.

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 **Chapter 1: The Calm Before A Storm**

East Goldshire is a neutral island located near the calm belt in the east blue, it's one of the main trading hubs in the sector. Supplying all forms of trade to the far east islands and communities in the East Blue.

At the centre of the East Goldshire is its heart, Vahlenstone the city of trade and the home of the Trade Prince Ryo Vahlen. The Vahlen Family has owned and governed the rights to the trade routes in this sector of the globe for generations. Because of these trade rights, the World Government hasn't been able to bring this nation under their ruling.

East Goldshire doesn't just supply trade to those islands in the far east of the East Blue, it also supplies trade to the islands that are closer to Reverse Mountain. With specialised ships capable of traversing the calm belt, the influence of East Goldshire has grown quite large to the point of being considered a threat to the expansion of the World Government's domain.

The Pyrite's Hammer, a renowned blacksmith that provides a wide range of high quality weapons, repairing or reforging services as well as the occasional custom request. Over the years, the quality of their wares has only increased which has caught the attention of a lot important families in East Goldshire.

"RJ… hey RJ… wake up!... oh…. he is not here" Francis Nicopoliski the master blacksmith and owner of Pyrite's Hammer. 42 years old, standing 6'1" stall with a muscular build that is befitting of his occupation. He has green eyes, long black tied hair tied into a low sitting ponytail with a fair amount of grey strands visible throughout and a neat full faced beard.

Dressed in a black singlet, baggy grey pants that hang over his boots. With a red bandana holding back his fringe and the strands of hair that missed the ponytail. He has been searching all over the shop for his apprentice Raymond James Murdoch. Raymond's father left him under Francis' care believing it was the best solution to keep his son safe. Ever since then Raymond has been like a son to Francis, even taking after him as a blacksmith.

Francis continued to search the shop for Raymond, however that boy was nowhere to be found. "Geez… Where did that boy disappear off too?" he sighed as he continued the search until he came across a note from Raymond.

" _Morning Francis, it's about time you got up. If you haven't notice, I have finished fixing up those 3 jobs left-over from yesterday. All you have to give them to their owners when they appear. If you are wondering where I am, I'm currently delivering that custom order to the Fairfank Estate. The rest of morning has been slow, so take it easy old man"_

After reading the message that Raymond left, Francis sighs and scrunches up the note. "He is probably on the other side of city by now". Francis' train of thought was interrupted by the ringing of a small bell that sits above the entrance to the place. "I will be right there" he calls out while trying to make himself more presentable.

Making his way to the showroom of the building, as he enters the room. Francis was greeted with a very nostalgic sight. A woman with long wavy brown hair, admiring some of the weaponry that is on sale.

Noticing that Francis had entered the room, she turns around with her ocean blue eyes focused on him, she smiles "It has been a while…. Hey Francis". Sophia Campbell known as Twin Fang, the Captain of the infamous Twin Fang Pirates.

Standing 5'8" tall, wearing a white buttoned shirt with the top couple of buttons undone, revealing some cleavage. A large brown coat that was befitting of a pirate captain, over the top. Black pants with brown cuffed boots that stopped below her knees. Around her waist was a large blue sash tied at her right hip and on the left side sat the 2 items she was known for.

Her fangs, a pair of dagger like short swords with a snake like curve to the blades. What made these swords unique was the metal that they were made out of a special metal capable of generating an electrical charge. People say that her swords response to her haki which allows her to harness that electricity.

Sitting on Sophia's head is a blue bandana with a purple and dark blue tribal design, in fact her sash had the same design. She gave Francis a slight bow before resting her captain's hat on the counter. Francis stood there frozen, he never thought that he would see her again. "Yeah it has" was all he could manage to say.

Her smile slowly drifted from her face, as she glanced through the window looking up at the sky. "A storm is coming" she said softly while resting down the blade that she was inspecting, before turning back to Francis. Her expression doesn't change, it looked like that she had something major occupying her mind.

Francis walked over to Sophia's location and glanced out the same window, to see nothing but a clear sky with no cloud in sight. "What are you talking about Sophie? there is no cloud in the sky. I know you use to have a knack with reading and predicting the weather but you must be getting rusty in your old age" he says resulting in a solid punch to the arm from her.

"I'm not that old" she shouts, glancing away in disgust. However, a smile slowly grew on her face at the sight of Francis trying to get feeling back into his arm. "I'm going to let you off with a warning for that name you called me. To think, you might be the only one to get away with calling me that" She adds with cheeky smirk.

"Yeah remind me, not to say that again" Francis replies after finally regaining feeling in his arm.

Sophia couldn't help but smile as she jabs in right in the same spot "For your record, 38 is not old and plus it's how you feel that matters"

"Ouch…. I can tell that you still love to torture your friends…. So what brings you here?" he replies hoping not to receive another one of her punches.

"I told you a storm is coming, so consider yourself warned" she answers proudly.

"So another words you're not going to tell me" Francis says with a sigh.

"It is for the best dear Francis" that mesmerising smile of hers had returned as she turns to his wares again "Your skills have improved or have you finally found some help?" she adds.

"Yeah… thanks… Hey Sophia can I ask you for a massive favour?" Francis asks sincerely, he was basically begging which caught her full attention.

Meanwhile on the other side of Valhenstone, a young boy standing 5'7" tall with an athletic build. He had green eyes and medium length messy golden brown hair with some dark strands scattered throughout, behind his right ear are 2 braided strands.

He is wearing a black shirt with 2 white diagonal stripes going from left to right. A blue collared shirt with a lighter blue cloud like design, unbuttoned over the top. Cream coloured baggy cargo pants with brown adventuring boots and a black cloth belt. He had a shark tooth necklace around his neck, his left forearm was wrapped in bandages and there was a sword case resting over his left shoulder.

He was standing outside a large estate being greeted by the guard standing out front, "Ah you must the gentleman that the young lady is expecting" he said in a commanding tone, which the boy responds with a simple nod. "What is your name?... So I can address the master of your arrival"

"It's RJ…. I mean Raymond James…. Uh…. Sir" The glare of the guard causing Raymond to stumble with his words. This was expected off course, this was the Fairfank Estate and the guards are on high alert especially when there is a male about to see the young lady of the estate Cassandra Fairfank, the first daughter to the Fairfank Family. Which is one of the most important families in East Goldshire.

"Very well, I will inform the master of your presence and inform the young lady that you are here Mr James" The guard formally states as he opens the gate. Raymond is suddenly greeted by 2 more guards, 1 to take Raymond to the location of the young lady Cassandra and the other one to take the message to the estate's master that Raymond is inside the estate.

After a couple of minutes of weaving through the hallways of the estate, he is brought to a massive garden, he can see a girl about his age with long blonde hair. Just enjoying some sweets under the pergola located in the middle of garden, surrounded by the most vibrant flowers.

Cassandra Fairfank known for her beauty and charm, she was wearing a simple yet elegant floral dress with an matching broad brimmed hat. Her blonde hair was brushed to one side and sat over her left shoulder. Her brown eyes focused on the boy standing at the entrance to the pergola. "Please RJ, take a seat" She says with a smile, a slight giggle escapes her mouth at the sight of the boy clearing outside his comfort zone.

"Thank you Milady" Raymond responds with rather jagged bow; he was never good at the whole formal scene. However, the young lady seemed more amused by his efforts then offended.

Cassandra continued to laugh to point she had to cover her mouth after an unsightly snort from her laughing fit. "Geez… you always been out the worst in me" she says with her cheeks slightly turning red from embarrassment. Raymond was the only person around her age that Cassandra unknowingly drops her guard and shows a more unrefined side.

"Did you bring what I requested?" She asks, quickly recovering from the embarrassment prior.

"Yes I did…. As you requested Cass" Raymond kindly says as he gently rests the sword case on the table and opens it. Revealing an high quality sword, the blade itself had an complex etching with an personal message that Cassandra herself picked out, her the hilt. The hilt was black, lined with a gold trimming, the entire sword screamed simple yet elegant.

"Wow… its beautiful RJ, it really is… I'm glad I requested it from your shop. Please tell your master that both of you have my deepest thanks" Cassandra says while admiring the sword, as a single tear slowly slides down her face, "I know my big brother will love this sword"

As Cassandra admired the sword that Raymond brought for her older brother, a deafening boom echoed throughout the area. Causing all the birds to take flight, slightly darkening the sky. "W-w-what was that" Cassandra said, embracing her brothers gift, as the staff members of the estate rush around trying to figure out that was that noise.

Viewing the chaos of the staff members, Raymond spoke "I…. I…. think it was a gunshot"

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Hey All, first off thanks for reading this chapter, I hope you enjoyed it.

Secondly, for a while now I've had this idea of creating a place for people to come, pitch story ideas and develop those ideas into actual stories while helping others do the same. Mainly because I'm the type of person who loves to create story ideas and try to flush them into an actual story before the brain decides to go "New Story Time".

I have made an forum called the 'Tale Forge' which its sole purpose is listed above, if your interested feel free to check it out. The simplest way of finding the forge is via an link on my profile. So yeah enjoy the rest of your day and thanks again for reading my stories.

Quake.


	4. Chapter 2 - A Raging Storm

Hey all, I'm back with another chapter. firstly I do apologise for the delay in upload, A lot has happened which prevented me from writing but now with the new year and a new place to call home. I will be able to write and upload like the old days of my first story. So saying that I really hope you enjoy this chapter and let me know what you think. As always sit back, relax and most importantly enjoy. Quake.

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 **Chapter 2: A Raging Storm**

A few moments passed since that deafening boom appeared. The master of the estate himself appeared. Lucifer Fairfank, a tall man with a similar build to Francis with short slicked back blonde hair and amber coloured eyes. Dressed in a very formal suit, just by the sight of him it was easy to tell how important this man was.

"Father!" Cassandra calls out before running into his arms "What in the world was that?" she asks; her voice was trembling. Clearly she was rather shaken by the whole ordeal, even though she tried to keep up her appearances in front of Raymond. That appearance simply broke at the sight of her father.

"I don't know my dear but I will soon find out" he replies with rather deep voice that seems to have a soothing effect on his daughter. Noticing Raymond nearby holding the sword case that Cassandra left on the table. "You must be Mr James, the blacksmith apprentice… Am I right?"

"Yes sir" Raymond responses, he was about to say more but was interrupted by one of Lucifer Fairfank's most trusted people. This person was hunched over, desperately trying to catch his breath. He was dressed in an formal black suit, wearing black sunglasses and his hair was blonde in a short neat cut.

"SIR…. this is bad" the person said while shaking slightly from fatigue as he salutes his master.

"Well?... What is it Johnston?" Lucifer replies while trying to keep his daughter calm.

"Well… Lord Vahlen has cancelled the meeting with World Government Ambassador and the top families of the country" Johnston states as he can see is master gradually getting madder with each word he spoke.

"WHAT!... What is that idiot thinking, doesn't he realise how much pressure the World Government is applying to our country…." Lucifer shouts but lowers the tone of this voice as he notices his daughter's grip around his body tighten as he shouted.

"That's the thing sir, the Ambassador from the World Government was found murdered, it appears that he was shot in head. Lord Vahlen has put out an statewide evacuation" Johnston says as Raymond notices smoke start to appear from the southern districts of the city.

"What's that?" he points out as some else catches his attention. An noise, a whistling noise that quickly ends as an explosion appears at one of the nearby estates.

"Shit… this is what the World Government wanted, a reason to carry out their invasion" Lucifer states as they take cover. The World Government's Navy have positioned their new dreadnoughts in the southern cove of East Goldshire. These dreadnoughts have the largest range of any Navy ship.

Even though Valhenstone is an inland city, from the southern cove those ships are capable of shelling the city with cannon fire. The Marines have managed to sneak operatives into the city and are providing coordinates for the ships to create as much chaos as possible so the Marines can sneak in their armies and take the city by force.

"BOY!" Lucifer turns to face Raymond, "I need you to get my daughter to the warehouses in the northern industrial district" he states after giving some commands to Johnston to carry out.

"What? What you do mean father?" Cassandra pulls away from him to look her father in the eyes.

"My darling daughter, your safety is very important. There are hidden tunnels that will take you to the northern cove where your brother's ship is docked" Lucifer places both his hands on his daughter's shoulders "I need you to be strong my child, Now boy get my daughter to safety" he commands.

"Y-y-yes Sir" Raymond replies sheepishly as he takes Cassandra's hand and leads her from the estate using back roads, to ensure they wouldn't get spotted by the Marines. As the cannon balls continue to rain all over the city

As the 2 teenagers make it clear of the Fairfank's estate, they caught a glimpse of the Valhenstone in the ruins with fire, destroyed buildings, debris and the navy's soldiers blocking their path towards the northern industrial district. As Cassandra looks on in horror, Raymond notices an whistling noise getting louder. "GET DOWN" he yells as he pushes her down to the ground, making sure to use his own body to shield her as 3 cannonballs fly over head. Leaving an thunderous sounds as a large fireball engulfs the sky, over the location they came from.

"FATHER!" Cassandra cries out at the sight of her home destroyed and in flames.

"Come on Cass…. It's not safe here" Raymond says as he grabs her hand and holds it tight, "We have to go".

Meanwhile on the other side of Valhenstone, Captain Sophia Campbell was quickly moving through the city, making sure to avoid the navy and their bombardment. With a small white piece of paper in her right hand as her guide and a sword with an extended hilt and no guard, grasped in her left. She was moving rather quickly as she recalled the talk she had with her old friend.

"So Francis…. What is this favour you speak off?" She asks as Francis walks behind the counter, a couple of moments later Francis places an unique sword on the counter. It is the same length as a standard katana however the blade itself was straight and had no guard, the hilt matching the sheath perfectly. Noticing the sword "What's with the sword?" she enquires.

"This is his masterpiece and the sole reason for what I'm about to ask you" Francis replies has he draws the sword, showing her the blade. It was dark red in colour with a slight glittery texture hidden within the blade itself.

"Let me see that" Sophia quickly storms over to the counter and snatches the sword from Francis to examine it closer "Pyridium…. But…. that's impossible…. Such a technique doesn't exist anymore…." She says as she runs her finger along the blade, Pyridium is an extremely rare metal that similar to the metal that her swords are made out off, however it produces heat instead of electricity.

Noticing that glittery texture "Is that seastone?... Who in the world made this?" she ponders while continuing the examine the sword, it's like nothing she has ever seen.

Francis lets of a small chuckle "Yeah it is, however it's only a small concentration… any greater and the fusion of materials wouldn't have worked. I'm pretty sure an logia user will feel the blade without the influence of haki…. Also that is not of its secrets" Francis says while retrieving the sword back from Sophia, he twists a metal ring that lays in the hilt. Doing so another blade appears at the end of hilt with a blue colouration instead of red.

"My apprentice made his, it took him most of the time while under my guidance to perfect this weapon" Francis adds while retracting the hidden blade and placing the sword back into its sheath. "Because of this weapon, he is no more save here, I need you to take him away from here".

"So what this boy's name" She enquired, slowly getting annoyed about how vague he was about answering her questions.

"Raymond James Murdoch" Francis sheepishly replies knowing full well that she will not like the answer as soon as he said the name Murdoch.

"Murdoch….. Wait…. You mean…." She asks, the nod from Francis just infuriates her. "Let me get this right…. You want me to take the child of Matthew James Murdoch…. The holy devil, the one who almost killed my entire crew including myself…. On multiple occasions…. Onto MY ship?"

Francis starts to sweat, his voice seemed just disappear, he knew the history between Sophia and Matthew all too well. All he could do was nod in agreement "ARE YOU INSANE!" Sophia shouts as she slams her hand onto the counter.

"Please understand Sophia…. He is like us, he managed to repair that old translator we build, he can read the void language…. He recently turned 18, the World Government will be looking for him and others his age to join their ranks…." Francis is desperately trying to convince her "When Matthew entrusted me his son, told me that only other person he could trust with his son's future was you Sophia…. So please…."

Through the chaos of the navy's invasion of Valhenstone, Sophia was closing in on her target "I can't believe I'm doing this" she says still annoyed over the matter, "Hopefully there is something of worth, I vent my rage on…."

Both Raymond and Cassandra have made good progress avoiding the chaos that navy has brought. However their luck quickly ran out, being surrounded and cornered by some marines "Look what we have here…." one says as they all draw their weapons.

"Remember what the admiral said leave no heathen alive" another saids as the riflemen take aim.

"FIRE!…"

"SORU!" an feminine voice calls out, before Raymond and Cassandra could act. All the marines that surrounded them were on the ground unconscious, with a woman with long wavy brown hair standing right in the middle. She was holding a weapon that was very familiar to Raymond.

As she looked over to the 2 teenagers, with a smile she tossed Raymond the sword that she held firmly in her grip "You might need this…. Raymond"

Raymond catches the sword and gives her a puzzled look "How do you know my name? Who are you? How did you get this?". While waiting for a reply from the mysterious woman, he slipped his sword into his black cloth belt, positioning it around to his back and making sure it was secured.

Sophia lets out a sigh "Those answers will have to wait…. We have to get moving now" she says while starting to walk off in a different direction to the one they were heading. This woman gave off a vibe that Raymond could trust, Francis would have never given this sword to anyone that he didn't trust with his own life.

"No…. I NEED to get Cass to the northern industrial district…. I promised her father" Raymond stubbornly replies which causes Sophia to spin around and glare at him.

After a rather heated staring contest, Sophia attempts defeat with groan. His boy wasn't going to change his made "FINE!" she throws her hands up in the air. " _Teenagers…. This better be worth it…._ " she thinks as she catches up the teenagers.

With the Industrial District in sight, all they needed to do was find the correct warehouse that contained the hidden passage to the northern cove. "WATCH OUT" Sophia cries out as she wraps her hands around Raymond and pulling him close into her chest. As multiple blades connected by a metal cord barely miss them.

Sophia lets go of the boy who is slightly in daze with his face completely red. As Cassandra shoots a glare full of daggers at Raymond, Sophia takes a step out to see the attacker. She just starts to laugh "This is PERFECT!".

Sophia was looking at a Marine who was wearing an outfit of a special unit that focus in capturing devil fruit users. "Boy take the girl and get out of here" She says to Raymond, he nods in agreement as he feels an murderous aura coming from Sophia. "To think I will find someone worthy of drawing my fangs on the forsaken island" She adds as she draws her 2 swords, the electricity from the blade arcing between each other.

Raymond quickly grabbed Cassandra's hand and ran for it as the hunter gripped his bladed whip tightly and launched another attack at them. Sophia muttered a single word and vanished from sight only to reappear within striking range of the hunter. Striking with both blades with a devilish grin across her face only to be blocked by the hunter.

The collision of weapons launched arcs of electricity everywhere, a strong arc traveled towards the teenagers. Raymond quickly act, pulling Cassandra closer and holding her tightly as he dove out the way of the arc of electricity. As he connected with the nearby wall, he just fell straight through it, leaving a temporary human shaped hole in a brick wall.

The hunter laughed at the disappearance act the boy pulled, that wasn't natural. "Not only I get to defeat the infamous Sophia 'Twin Fang' Campbell, there is also a devil fruit user for me to hunt, this a lucky day indeed" he laughed maniacally.

"Don't count your chickens too soon" Sophia mocks as she told a solid kick to the hunters ribs launching him across the ground.

The battle between Sophia and the hunter echoed throughout the area, when Cassandra finally processed what had occurred, she saw the human shape hole in the brick close up. "RJ…. what did you do…. Don't tell me you're…." she says as she slowly backs away from him.

"A devil fruit user…. Yeah…. I'm sorry Cass, I wanted to tell you but Francis said no, plus if the word did get out I would have had those guys busting down my door a lot sooner" Raymond apologises as he reaches his hand out to her "However I DID promise your father, that I will get you to safety and that what I'm going to do" he says with confidence..

Cassandra slowly takes his hand, she was shaking, not knowing what to think "s-s… So what is your ability?" she enquires.

"I ate the Doa Doa no Mi when I was very young…. I'm a door human" he says in a cheerful tone as he guides her to another wall, resting his body against it to create another human shaped door in the brick work of the building. "Now you know, we can get you to safety a lot quicker" he adds with a smile.

* * *

Hey All, first off thanks for reading this chapter, I hope you enjoyed it.

Secondly, I like to remember you of my forum project called Tale Forge, a place to talk about story ideas and work on any characters you may have. The link to the forum can be found on my profile. I enjoy talking with other writings about story ideas and I hope the Tale Forge can be place for that to happen.

Quake.


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